I’m thinking that Eric Schnurer wrote his US News column here with at least a touch of sarcasm. “Let the Republicans get their way and pass laws saying that the rich don’t have to pay anything and give them all the power that they want. And then the rest of the country will wake up and figure out how dangerous this and demand to have their country back and be put in charge. That democracy will prevail and rule again and take down the Corporate State.” At least that is the point that I get from him and what I believe he is saying here.

Look, for anyone who labels them self a Progressive and perhaps because they don’t want to admit to their more socialist leanings and believe that allowing people to have a lot of money is a dangerous thing, even if they earned all of that money and just don’t want to tax them more for public investments, but somehow see wealth as a bad thing in America, I have a good suggestion for you. Tax everybody, except people who truly can’t afford to be taxed at all, people who work in poverty. But tax people based on what they take from society and not what they earn.

What Senator Ben Cardin who serves on the Senate Finance Committee and just happens to be one of my U.S. Senator’s calls a Progressive Consumption Tax and I call it that myself, would solve a lot of our tax problems in America. The poor, would still get their Earned Income Tax Credit and would only have to report their income to get it. Everyone else that is out of poverty earning an income would be taxed based on what they spend. And it would be progressive, because taxes on the basic necessities of life would be taxed fairly low. Luxury items including ball games and other forms of entertainment, would be taxed higher. The more expensive the purchase, the higher it would be taxed. And the rich would end up being taxed more, because they spend more.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Before anyone throws Cuba, China, North Korea, Vietnam and all the former so-called Communist Republics at me, forget about all of those countries. The actual definition of communism and Communists are people who are anti-private property. They want most if not all private property replaced short of people’s homes and personal property. They want control of the economy to be in the hands of the central state. They are even to the left of the Social Democrat, or Democratic Socialist when it comes to economic policy. Because Democratic Socialists believe in property rights and private enterprise, to go along with a superstate to meet the basic needs of the people.

You could be a Communist and believe in democratic multi-party elections. And perhaps even individual rights, short of people acting against the state and threatening the stability of the Communist State. You could be a Communist and even believe in private small business’s short of big business’s. With the state being in control of the big business’s to be used for all the people. Communism is a statist authoritarian ideology, because of the nature of the size of the state in a true communist society. But it’s not necessarily anti-democratic or anti-free. There could be freedom in a true communist society. I doubt we’ll ever see that, especially with both Cuba and China moving to private enterprise economies.

But it’s not so much communism that is the real threat to freedom and individualism and the major competitor and arch-rival of liberalism. Liberalism, liberal democracy, being true philosophies that are truly about freedom, individualism and individual rights. But statism, whether it comes from the Far-Left, or the Far-Right, that are the arch-rivals of liberalism, as well as conservative libertarianism. Statism, being all about the state and that the state is superior. And that freedom can’t be trusted and is too risky. Because a Statist believes that freedom gives people the right to make mistakes that the state has to pay for. But if the state is completely in charge and people aren’t free to go out on their own, the state will be able to protect them and take care of them. And no one will have too much, or too little and immorality won’t become a problem.

There are Statists right and left in democratic societies and even in a liberal democratic society like America. (There’s that word liberal again) Statists on the Far-Left, who not only believe that people can’t be trusted with their money, because they’ll make bad decisions with it. Or will end up being really successful and productive and make a lot more money than most people. So you need taxes and regulations high enough to make sure that government controls most of those resources to see that everyone is taken care. And not free to make mistakes with their own money, or make a lot of money.

But on the social side, you have leftist Statists who believe people can’t be trusted as far as how they talk to each other. That hate speech shouldn’t be free and that their form of political correctness should be the law of the land. That minority groups should get special protection from government. That women should be treated superior to men. That people can’t be trusted to even get their own news and that right-wing media shouldn’t be allowed to exist. And that people can’t be trusted as far as what they should eat and drink. And that government should decide what people can eat and drink. The ultimate nanny state. A Statist on the Far-Left in America, makes Democratic Socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders look like a Moderate.

And you see Statists on the Far-Right in America, who tend to look at society through their own cultural and religious views. So-called Religious-Conservatives, but Neoconservatives who tend to share the cultural views Religious-Conservatives, but also come from a national morality and security bent as well. That security and morality should always come before liberty. That liberty should only be tolerated when it doesn’t threaten security and when people are acting moral in their view. And that government should enforce the Neoconservative’s view of national morality and security. And the Neo-Right has dominated the Republican Party for what twenty-five years now. With the GOP only moving back to their conservative-libertarian roots since some guy named Barack Obama became President of the United States. And they decided that they no longer debt and deficits and the Patriot Act and host of other policies started by the Bush Administration.

So look, I’m not a Communist, or any other type of Socialist. Which shouldn’t be a newsflash to anyone familiar with this blog, or my blogging. But I don’t see socialism, or even communism as the main threat to liberty. And I don’t even see it as a real threat or competitor to liberalism. Because the Liberal, will always have better views and arguments than a Communist and even Socialist. Because the Liberals will explain what people can do for themselves if they just have the tools. While the Socialist, or Communist will always try to tell the audience what government can do for the people so they don’t have to act on their own. Which doesn’t tend to fly in America. But the real threat to freedom in America and in general, is statism. Whether it comes from the Far-Left, or Far-Right.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

A lot can be said about Charles Manson most of it bad. I mean he was the leader of one of the most evil crime families that America has ever seen. And this wasn’t a crime family that was built around enriching themselves financially off the backs of people who’ve made it in life. But a crime family that was built around destroying the establishment essentially. That if you were successful in life, especially if you were a successful Caucasian-American in society in the Los Angeles area and Charlie Manson knew about you and could get to you, you were a potential target of the Manson Family.

If you were on the Manson Crime Family’s hit list, they were not going to take what you earned in life. They weren’t after the wealth, but the person themselves. That the establishment was the problem in America. And Charlie Manson had this fantasy that if all of these wealthy people were murdered, that these murders would get blamed on African-Americans in Los Angeles. And that Caucasians would be so mad by this, that it would unite some type of race war between Caucasians and Africans in Southern California. This sounds crazy, but that’s the fantasy that Manson had. But what he didn’t realize apparently as well as several other things, that he was in California not Alabama. And race wars just didn’t happen there. People in LA learned to live with each other.

Charlie Manson’s life was tragic enough and to a certain extent society was partially to blame for this. With the way Manson was raised. But the bigger tragedy was, its one thing to destroy your own life, but its another to destroy others. And his family members are responsible for their actions in the Manson Family. But without Charlie Manson the Manson Crime Family never gets created and he targeted young adults in the late 1960s to join his family and show them another way of living.

Manson gave his members what they were missing in life, in exchange for doing Charlie’s evil business. Do the deeds that Manson didn’t have the guts to do on his own, which is murder people. And thank God most people don’t have the guts to murder people, or this would be a much different country. Thats how the Manson Family operated and how they were able to be in business. Charlie Manson was sentenced to prison for the last time in his life in 1970 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder of the people his family murdered.

Charlie been in prison ever since and will never leave prison for what he did. Nor should he, because he’s clearly not rehabilitated. And even the California corrections system recognizes this. But he’s lucky in once sense to even be a live for the murders he’s responsible for. Had the death penalty not have been outlawed in 1973, Charlie and his followers would be dead right now. Probably executed by the late 1970s and early 1980s. And how his members, most of the women anyway have turned out and conducted themselves while in prison and are now rehabilitated, that may have been a tragedy. But Charlie is still the same person he’s always been as an adult.

Friday, May 1, 2015

I remember this game fairly well as a nine-year old who was already sports junky and loved football and football was probably already my favorite sport to watch. I remember looking forward to this game and then watching it. The two best teams in the NFL the Dolphins and 49ers, with the two best quarterbacks in Dan Marino and Joe Montana. And arguably the two best head coaches as well in Don Shula and Bill Walsh. Similar to 1983 with the Redskins and Oakland Raiders, this looked like a real Super Bowl matchup between two great teams. And if you’re familiar with football and this game, you also know that games aren’t played on paper and the game didn’t live up to the billing.

The difference in this Super Bowl, is that the 49ers were truly a great team. On both sides of the ball. They had the best defense in the league in the NFL in 1984. They had a great quarterback, with a lot of good receivers. Dwight Clark, Freddie Solomon, Earl Cooper and others. And a great running game as well. Their running game might have been better than their passing game. If you look at the fact that they had two Pro Bowl running backs in their backfield. In Wendell Tyler and Roger Craig. And that Roger Craig, who should be in the Hall of Fame was also a great receiver and perhaps the 49ers best receiver and a great blocker as well. The 84 49ers, you could make a case that they are the best team of all-time in the NFL.

The 1984 Dolphins, I believe were actually somewhat underrated. They weren’t a one man team with Dan Marino with a great coach in Don Shula. With no running game and no defense. They had a very good offensive line, which allowed Marino to throw the ball as much as he did and gave him the time to throw the ball as well as he did. They did have a running game at least in 84. With Woody Bennet and Tony Nathan. But losing Andra Franklin, who would’ve given them that one lead running back and a power running game was a big lost for them. And without Franklin, they didn’t have that one great running back that could put the team on his shoulders and lead them. And defensively, they gave up a lot of yards on the ground. But teams ran the ball a lot against the Dolphins in 84 to keep the Dolphins offense off the field. And the Dolphins were solid against the pass.

What I think the difference in this game is that the 49ers again were great on both sides of the ball. They ran and threw the ball very well. They had a very good strong and athletic offensive line. That pass and run blocked very well. They had a great QB obviously and also had a great defense. The best defense that the Dolphins saw during the 84 season, was against the 49ers. Who practically shut them down after the first quarter in this game. And then add that the Dolphins didn’t have a lot of speed on defense to matchup with all the 49ers receivers and had a hard time getting to Montana most of the game and the 49ers ran the ball so well in this game, meant the 49ers could move the ball up and down the field in this game. And as a result this game turned into a blowout.

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I blog about practically everything that I'm interested in and knowledgeable about. Primarily about current affairs, news, politics and history. But for history, is not just about government and politics. But it covers those things, but entertainment, from movies to music, TV, sports, movies that are about politics and current affairs. Whether the characters are played by actors, or whether the film is in documentary form.

I'm interested in a lot of different things and spend a lot of my time learning about those things to the point that I feel the need to tell everybody what I know and think about what I have learn. Not sure if that is a good thing, or not. Since I'm a blogger, I hope that is good. Again for current affairs and news, as well as politics. But what is going on in those areas today, but also what happened in those areas in the past. History, is about teaching today's generation about what happened in the past. So we know what went well back in the day, but also what didn't work. So we know what works and what doesn't.

But again not just current affairs, news and politics. I love movies, especially classic movies. And when I'm not working and I'm at home, you can generally find me watching a movie. Or a ball game from that day, or a ball game from the past. And then if I'm really interested in what I'm seeing and I believe I'm pretty knowledgable about that, you can generally find what I learn from what I just watched up on my blog. You can physically take me away from my blog, but my mind is always there thinking about what's next for the blog. Looking for the next piece to write about.

I'm also a big fan of bios and watch a lot of them and read about people I'm interested in a lot as well. And again when I see a good bio about someone that I'm really interested in and I'm knowledgeable about, you can find what I know about that person and era up on my blog. I love documentaries, true crime, bios and bios of all kinds. Actors, politicians, athletes musicians, activists, a lot of different people.

I blog about a lot of different things. So if you're checking out my blog, but you're only interested in perhaps a few areas, you're probably not going to see a lot of what you're looking for. And end up seeing a lot of things you could probably care less about. But if you're someone who has multiple interests and knowledgable about those areas as well, I hope you check out my blog. Because I think we can learn from each other. I always welcome input to my blog. Just try to keep it professional and courteous. We can disagree with each other without trying to destroy each other. And perhaps even learn from each other.